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Stacy London Candidly Explains Her Year of Breakdowns: Back Surgery, a Breakup and Almost Going Broke

For one, she quite literally underwent surgery on her spine at the end of 2016. “My doctor had to go in and fuse vertebrae that were loose because they were grinding against each other, effectively turning my discs to powder,” she described in a candid essay penned for Refinery29.

While the TV fashion maven expected a six week recovery, she was not prepared for the “financial, physical, emotional shit show” that would follow.

As London recalled in the essay, she had been taking somewhat of a sabbatical and was unemployed when she decided to undergo the surgery to set her up for 2017. However, the side effects of the procedure immediately took shape in the form of pain, nausea, diarrhea, brain fog and fatigue.

Back in her house and on the mend, she began spending in many directions—on food delivery, transportation, housekeeping and online shopping. “I realized I wasn’t just untethered from a job, I was untethered from a purpose. I had nothing to hold on to. And, honestly, I just wasn’t thinking about my finances. In fact, I would have thrown money at anything— material or procedural—to make the recovery process easier,” she explained.